Binding or tying of boxes, bales, or the like



March 11 1924. 1,486,396

E. A. INGOLD BINDING OR TYING OF BOXES, BALES, OR THE LIKE Filed March 15, 1923 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Mach 11 1924. msfi-gma E.AINGOLD BINDING OR TYING OF BOXES, BALES, OR THE LIKE Filed March 13, 1923 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 arch 11 1924. v 1,486,396

E. A. INGOLD BINDING OR TYING OF BOXES, BALES, OR THE LIKE Filed March 13. 1923 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 March 11 1924.

E. A. INGOLD BINDING OR TYING OF BOXES BALES, OR THE L-IKE Filed March 13 1923 6 SheetsSheet 4 a Q0 Il Vernal.

March 1 1924.

INGOLD muss BlNDING OR TYING OF BOXES OR THE LIKE Filed March 13. 1923 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 5 E. A. INGOLD March 11 1924.

BINDING OR TYING OF BOXES OR THE LIKE BALE5,.

e Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed March 13. 1923 Patented Mar. H, 1924:.

UNETED STATES asses rarest orrica.

ERNEST ALBERT INGOLD, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE FIRM W. & C.

PANTIN, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

BINDING OR TYING OF BOXES, BALES, OR THE LIKE.

Application filed March 13, 1923.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Enxns'r ALBERT IN cope. a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing in London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Binding or Tying of Boxes, Bales, or the like, of which the following is a specification.

It has been proposed to bind or tie wooden or other boxes, bales or the like with hoops of'wire the ends of which are twisted together by causing them to overlap and gripping the centre of the overlap with a rotary twisting device by means of which the two wires are twisted together on either side of the grip. It has been found. however,

hat it is a very easy matter to draw the wires apart by inserting a lever under the wire and. applying it so as to produce tensional stress on the wire, and one object of the present invention is to produce twists on the overlapping wires of the binding lo0p Of such a character that the ends cannot be separated by such means.

This object is attained according to the present invention by producing duplicate twists such as above described at two or more points of the overlap of the ends of the wire separated from each other by a short length, adjacent twisting devices being arranged to rotate in opposite directions so that, for example. with two such rotary twisting .derices the resulting twist of the two overlapping parts of the wire will be" made up of a left han d twist of so'many turns followed by an untwisted grip space followed by a right hand twist of twice as many turns, followed by an untwistedgrip space and that followed by a lefthand twist of the same number of turns as the other left hand twist. Inother words the duplicate twisting pinions used in mechanism operating according to the present invention give two pairs of twists the inner parts of each pair forming a continuous unidirectional twist of twice the length of the outer parts thereof and of opposite sense thereto.

The invention will be more particularly described with reference to a machine designed to produce the result above set forth and illustrated in'the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 taken with Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on line AA in Fig. 3 and Fig. 1 shows the twist produced by the machine; Fig. 2 is an end Serial No. 624,838.-

'elevation, Fig. 2 a section on line B-B in F ig; 1, Fig. 2 a section on line CC in Fig. 1, and Fig. 2 an enlarged view of a twisting pinion; Fig. 3 is a plan View of the machine; Figs. 3 and 3 two similar views of a clutch mechanism showing the cooperating parts in two positions; Fig. 4; is a front elevation; Fig. 5 a plan View, and Figs. 5 and 5 sections on lines DD and E E respectively in Fig. 5.

' Two twisting pinions A, B having slots A", B forthe reception of the binding wire are journalled in a frame plate C a suitable distance apart in axial alignment with each other and p1-eferably with a slight axial freedom of movement and normally urged outwardly to the limit of this freedom by a spring C", so that as the twist between the pinions is formed and thereby shortens the gripped part"of the Wire the pinionswill yield inwardly towards each other and the wire will not be broken.

These twisting pinions mesh respectively with two spur wheels I), E, the latter of which gears directly with a pinion H on a shaft H and the former with a pinion I on acountershaft I which is driven from shaft H through gears H 1 so that when shaft H is rotated the twisting pinions are driven in opposite directions at the same speed.

The oppositely rotated spur wheels D, E, are mounted loosely upon a suitably placed shaft, e; g. upon acam shaft F which extends longitudinally under the top plate or table of the machine. The shafts F, H are driven from a power shaft through suitable transmission mechanism, e. by means of chain drives and sprocket wheels F, H through two clutches denoted generally by G and N respectively. The clutch N is applied manually and disengages automatically when the required twist has been put upon the binding wire, while the clutch G is automatic in its action and is controlled by the rotation of the shaft H as hereinafter described so as to effect the rotation of shaft F at the appropriate phase for actuating the mechanisms which cut the ends of the binding wire at either side of the twist and ejectthe twisted loop from the twisting pinions.

The clutch disc N is fixed on the shaft H in contiguity with a loose disc 0 and through these discs are holes in alignment the holes in discs with each other parallel with the axis of the shaft in which a pin N forming one of the clutch members is adapted to slide. The pin N can be projected into the path of the other clutch member which consists of a stud or lug N projecting laterally from a disc or boss fixed to the sprocket wheel H and the cooperating surfaces of the two clutch members N N are bevelled so that upon engagementv of the rotating clutch member N with the pin N when I N, U are in alignment the pin will be pushed back to the position which it is shown as occupying in Fig. 1. The rear end of the pin N is provided with a roller N which is adapted to ride on the outer surface of the loose disc 0 when the' two clutch'members are in their operative positions and the shaft'H is being rotated by the sprocket wheel H The clutch member N is projected manually to engage with clutch member N as by means of a crank handle M on a spindle M" carrying an arm M which-engages the end of a pin M mounted to slide in a fixed part of the machine parallel with shaft H and at the same distance therefrom as the pin N A spring M serves to return the pin l\ 2 to the position shown in Fig. 1, when the crank handle M is released.

When the clutch handle is operated the pin 1 2 projects the clutch pin N outwardly until the roller N is flush with the outer surface of the loose disc 0, and as soon as the lug N engages the pin N the clutch disc N is rotated with respect .to the loose disc the holes in the two discs areno longer aligned and the roller N rides on O with a stop 0 the disc the meantime, the holes in the two discs would again become aligned when the disc N had completed one revolution and the pin N would be thrust back out of operative engagement with stud N. The loose disc 0 is, however, dragged round by friction under the axial thrust on the pin N due to the cooperating inclined surfaces of the clutch members N N until it is arrested by the engagement of a projecting arm The holes in discs N, 0 do not therefore again become aligned until the disc N has made one complete turn and a fraction of a turn, whereupon the clutch pin N automatic-ally disengages and shaft H stops. The gear ratio between shaft H and the twisting pinions A, B is appropriate to the number of twists to be put in the wire, and as shown in the drawings this gear ratio is 3 to 1 so that when clutch N engages one revolution'of the shaft H from that point will put three twists upon the wire at each side of the gripping point of each of the two twisting pinions.

The additional fraction of a revolution made -in the reverse direction,

0. If disc 0 did not move 1n by the shaft H before the clutch N can disengage is such that the twisting pinions after completing three revolutions make an additional quarter of a revolution which compensates for the tendency of the wires to untwist to a slight extent and coasequent ly to turn the twisting pinions backwards when the shaft H is declutched.

The quarter turn of the pinions .A, B which brings the slots A", B" into the correct position for ejection of the wire as shown for example in .Figs. 2 and 2 is definitely effected by means of the arm O -on disc 0 which is retracted after disengagement of clutch N by a lever O pivoted on the frame and actuated through a pin and slot connected by means of a link 0 which is anchored at one end by a spring to a fixed point and is pivotally connected at its other end with a lever 07 which is held by the spring 0 in operative engagement with a cam O on shaft F. Uponrotation of the shaft F, which has now been clutched to its driving sprocket wheel F as hereinafter described, the cam O operates to retract the link 0 against the action of spring 0 and i with the holes in the discs 0, N in alignment thus leaving the parts with plunger M in position for the next twisting operation. The shaft F is brought into action during the latter part of the rotation of the shaft H. This is effected by means of a spring urged clutch pawl G pivotally mountedon a collar G fast on shaft F which, by means of a projection from the pawl bearing upon the edge of a disc H on shaft H' is kept out of engagement with the clutchv disc Gr secured to sprocket wheel F until by the rotation of the shaft H the projection from the pawl G comes into register with a notch in the disc H", the edge of which is cut away over a sector of suitable angle for this purpose, thereby permitting the tail of the pawl G to be forced by its spring into one or other'of a plurality bf notches G in the clutch disc 3". driving sprocket F lar G and disc G and it will continue to rotate so long as the shaft H is not rotated to bring the edge of disc H into engagement with the cooperating element of the pawl G so as to lift the latter out of the notch G" as shown in Fig. 3

The rotation of the shaft F at the appropriate phase in the actuates by means of cams F two sprin returned euttingblades J (Figs. 1 an 5) whereby the ends of the wire are separate from the loop after the twists have been Gr as shown in Fig.

imposed. on the overlap. -When the cutting The shaft F is thus clutched to the through pawl G coloperation of the machine arm 0 thereby has been effected, the continued rotation of shaft F brings into action two stepped cam discs F which operate to withdraw two holding bolts K, K (Figs. 1 and 5 which during the twisting operation serve to keep the overlapping wires in the correct position for twisting i. e. in the line of the axis of the twisting pinions. Upon these holding bolts being withdrawn cams F project spring-re turned plungers L. upwardly to engage the twist at its outer ends and at two intermediate points and eject the twisted wire from the slots in the twisting pinions. These cut ting and ejection operations are effected when the twisting pinions have been turned back to occupy the position in which they are shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 2, through the retraction of the disc 0 by the linkage actuated by cam O on shaft F. In this position of the twisting pinions the gripped ends of the wire are opposed to the cutting blades J and are severed thereby while the adjacent wire of the loop or bight around the bale being comparatively slack is not cut by the knives.

, One end of the binding wire is secured in a clip fixed in position on the machine on the left of the twisting pinions, one blade J of thisclip being pivoted so that it can be swung inwards to clip the wire against,

the end of the fixed blade J of the clip. There is a similar device on the right of the twisting pinions, but in this case the pivoted blade J -does not clip thewire but engages over it to prevent it being pushed upwards when the cooperating cutting blade J severs the wire from the loop.

The free end of the wire, after the fixed.

end has been secured in the clip J J and the bight or loop passed around the package to be wired, is engaged by a jawed clip so constructed that a pull imparted to the clip, which is mounted in a gu-ideway R in an extension R of the top plate or table of the machine in line with the axis of the twisting pinions, as by means of a treadle mechanism .operating through a wire Q or other suitable linkage, serves first to tighten the grip of the pivoted jaws P of the clip upon the wire and secondly to. tension the wire so as to tighten it around the package. When thewire Q, is slackenedby release of the treadle the clip P is'returned by means of a spring S against a stop P which is shaped to'separate the jaws P ready for the reception of the wire for the ne'x't operation.

The machine maybe provided with clips or holders suitably disposed to hold the wire temporarily.whilst the package is being insertedvthrough the loop.

Fig. 1 shows'the twist made by a machine having a pair-of oppositely; rotating twisting pinions, X, X: being the untwisted parts of the overlapping wire which are gripped 'infslots A", B respectively of the twistlng pinions. Between the parts X, X is a unidirectional twisted part Y of six complete twists and outside each of the parts X, X is 1 the clamped ends are severed from the loop portion TV, WV. It will be seen that any stress applied to the wire which would tend to loosenthe twists Z, Y would at the same time tend to tighten the twists Y, Z? and that therefore it is not possible to draw the wires apart.

Having thus described the nature of the said invention andthe best means I know of carrying the same into practical effect, I claim 1. An apparatus for binding or tying boxes, bales or other packages with hoops of wire, comprising. a plurality of slotted twisting pinions journalled in axial alignment, means for rotating said pinions in when a predetermined amount of twist has been imparted to the binding wire.

2. An apparatus for binding or tying boxes, bales or other packages with hoops of wire, comprising a plurality of slotted twisting pinions journalled in axial align-- ment, means for rotating said pinions in alternately opposite directions, cutting blades brought automatically into operation to cut the ends of the wire when the requisite twist hasbeen imparted thereto, and mechanism automatically operating to eject the twisted wire from the slotted pinions after theends of'the wire are severed.

3. An apparatus for binding of tying boxes, bales or other packages with hoops of wire, comprising a pair of slotted twisting pinions journalled in axial alignment with limitedfreedom of axial movement, and means operating to.hold said pinions yieldingly apart.

4. An apparatus for binding or tying boxes, bales or other packages with hoops of wire, comprising a pair of. slotted twisting pinions journalled in axial alignment, gearing adapted to rotate said pinions in opposite directions, driving means for said of wire, comprising a pair of slotted twisting pinions ournalled in axia. alignment,

means for rotating pinions in opposite directions, manually applied means for bringing said rotating means into operation,

means automatically operating to disconnect said rotating means, and means operating automatically after such disconnection to rotate the twisting pinions in the reverse directions.

6. An apparatus for binding or tying boxes. bales orother packages with hoops of wire, comprising a pair of slotted twisting pinions journalled in axial alignment, .a shaft operating to rotate the said pinions in opposite directions through suitable gear.- ing connecting said shaft and pinions, cutting bladcs adapted to sever the ends of the wire from the hoops, a second shaft operating said cutting blades, driving means for both shafts, a clutch niechanismadapted to couple said second shaft with its driving means, and means actuated by the first shaft controlling the engagement of the said clutch mechanism.

7. An apparatus for binding or tying boxes, bales or other packages with hoops of wire, comprising a pair of slotted twisting pinions journalled in axial alignment, means for rotating said pinions in opposite directions, manually applied means for tensioning the hoop of wire around the Packmeasee age, holding means for retaining the wires in the slots of the twisting the twisting operation, means for severing the ends of the'wire from the hoop, means for withdrawing the said wire retaining means, and means for ejecting the twisted hoop from the slotted twisting pinions.

8. An apparatus for binding or tying boxes, bales or other packages with hoops of wire, comprising a pair of slotted twisting pinions journalled in axial alignment, clamps for securing the endsof the wire, one of said clamps being movable to tension the wire, pins adjacent to the twisting pinions adapted to engage over the overlapping Wires, ejector plungers, a shaft having cam devices adapted to operate in succession the said cutting blades, holding pins and ejector plungers, driving means for said shaft, and

movable cutting blades, holding pinions during a clutch mechanism automatically operative at a predetermined phase of the twisting operation to connect said shaft with said driving means.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification. v

- ERNEST ALBERT INGOLD. 

